Kymeta Provides Urgent Connectivity for Disaster-Hit Tonga
Kymeta responds after Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and tsunami leaves many island villages, homes, and businesses without critical communications infrastructure.
Kymeta Corporation announced that it has sent its u8 units to provide emergency restoration of communications in the Kingdom of Tonga. On January 15, 2022, an underwater volcano in the South Pacific island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai erupted and was followed by a tsunami that wiped out much of the island-nation’s communications.
Tonga is suffering from the effects of the massive volcano’s eruption which NASA scientists believe is to have released energy equivalent to 4-18 megatons of TNT and hundreds of times the equivalent mechanical energy of the Hiroshima nuclear explosion. With little to no communications, many of Tonga’s island villages, homes, and businesses have been left without critical communications infrastructure.
“Kymeta knows how crucial plug and play mobile connectivity is in the midst of disaster,” said S. Douglas Hutcheson, Executive Chairman and Co-CEO of Kymeta. “Our team was immediately ready to step in and help pro bono to provide these life-saving communication capabilities as the Tongo community begins to rebuild.”
Kymeta’s u8 will be deployed in a variety of settings on land and on sea, both on the move and on the pause in order to fulfil several communications requirements on the main island and the outer islands.
The Tonga government is leading response efforts on the ground and Kymeta is actively working with the Tongan Ministry of Information and Communications, Tongan telecommunications companies, Spark New Zealand, Intelsat, NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the New Zealand Defence Forces in the humanitarian effort.
